Bloomberg: How China Is Buying Its Way Into Europe

For more than a decade, Chinese political and corporate leaders have been scouring the globe with seemingly bottomless wallets in hand. From Asia to Africa, the U.S. and Latin America, the results are hard to ignore as China has asserted itself as an emerging world power. Less well known is China’s diffuse but expanding footprint in Europe.

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We analyzed data for 678 completed or pending deals in 30 countries since 2008 for which financial terms were released, and found that Chinese state-backed and private companies have been involved in deals worth at least $255 billion across the European continent. Approximately 360 companies have been taken over, from Italian tire maker Pirelli & C. SpA to Irish aircraft leasing company Avolon Holdings Ltd., while Chinese entities also partially or wholly own at least four airports, six seaports, wind farms in at least nine countries and 13 professional soccer teams.

Importantly, the available figures underestimate the true size and scope of China’s ambitions in Europe. They notably exclude 355 mergers, investments and joint ventures—the primary types of deals examined here—for which terms were not disclosed. Bloomberg estimates or reporting on a dozen of the higher-profile deals among this group suggest an additional total value of $13.3 billion. Also not included: greenfield developments or stock-market operations totaling at least $40 billion, as compiled by researchers at the American Enterprise Institute and the European Council on Foreign Relations, plus a $9 billion stake in Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. chairman Li Shufu reported by Bloomberg.

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Looking ahead, Chinese companies have expressed interest in a slew of European deals that haven’t been officially announced yet, based on Bloomberg data and reporting, as well as a recent ECFR report. These include building nuclear reactors in Romania and Bulgaria, buying a Croatian container terminal and building a Swedish port, taking over Czech carmaker Skoda Transportation AS and an Ireland-based oil and gas producer, investing in French ski-lift firm Compagnie des Alpes and a German electricity grid operator and providing financing for a bridge in Croatia and a Budapest-Belgrade rail link.

1. Was in Italy recently and there is a town that is outside of Florence

Where there is a large Chinese population who make clothes. The clothes carry the label
“Made in Italy”. The clothes are inexpensive $5-$15 and the shop owners are Chinese. I brought some really nice items with Italian styling. But it is something to hear a Chinese person speak Italian. All over Venice, Rome and Florence I saw these stores $5, 10 and 15 clothes.

2. Long range planning

the US is folding in on itself while China reaches out with purchases and trade agreements. They will overtake the US economically at some point. tRump was the worst thing to happen - he sees a tiny issue that he believes is a negotiaion while China sees the big picture.

3. Right. And Americans respond to our national decline by voting for Trump.

This response is very dangerous because it will lead to a worse and worse and worse economy here.

We are flying, rudderless, into the unknown.

We should be organizing ourselves and planning how to deal with the challenges of the future.

Trump is a total waste of time. That's the worst thing about his presidency.

Here we are talking about his constant changing staff and the icebergs of his scandals that are emerging on our horizon and we are not dealing with the reality we face at all.

Europeans were talking about the changing reality in terms of the economy and planning to deal with it back in the 1970s and early 1980s. I was there. In contrast, we are not talking about what is really going on and how to deal with it.